The complexities of characterizing the decision-making process
on national security matters in Israel have been described and
analyzed in numerous works over the years. It seems, though, that
Freilich's book is the most comprehensive, systematic, and
empirically substantiated analysis of the strengths and
particularly the weaknesses of that process, and their reasons, so
far.

Alongside points of strength of the Israeli national security
decision-making process, such as quick adaptability to changes,
pragmatism, improvisation skills, innovation, personal ties between
officials that help bypass bureaucratic barriers, etc., Freilich
identifies five pathologies of the process: unplanned process,
politicized process, semi-organized anarchy, non-institutionalized
process, and primacy of the defense establishment. He then
investigates their manifestation in seven case studies — Camp
David, 1978; the Lavi project; the First Lebanon War, 1982; the
pullout from Lebanon, 2000; Camp David, 2000; the disengagement
from Gaza, 2005; and the Second Lebanon War, 2006. The five
pathologies were to varied degrees manifested in all of the case
studies.

Freilich attributes the pathologies to two main reasons: first,
Israel's unique, complex, uncertain, and highly dynamic security
challenges; and second, Israel's highly politicized decision-making
process. He chooses to stress the second reason, pointing to the
system of coalition-cabinet government as the major impediment to
systematic decision-making. Due to this system, the prime minister
and his/her fellow ministers fear debate with coalition partners
who disagree with them on policy preferences and priorities; they
try to avoid policy recommendations that might be inconsistent with
their own preferences or tie their hands; they evade setting clear
objectives which they may later be held accountable for failing to
achieve; and they prefer holding their cards close to their chests
out of fear of leaks from national security forums and other
agencies dealing with national security matters.

A theme that repeats itself throughout Freilich's analysis is
the dominant role played by the IDF in the decision-making process,
thanks to its resources, experience, impartiality, and
professionalism. Freilich mentions cases where decision-makers had
a military background (e.g., Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Ariel
Sharon), and therefore felt it more convenient to work with the
military directly and tended to adopt its advice over the
suggestions of other agencies (p. 54). It is conversely true,
however, that in cases where decision-makers had no security
background (e.g., Golda Meir, Levi Eshkol, Menahem Begin, Amir
Peretz) they had to lean on the military for advice. It seems,
therefore, that neither the military nor the politicians have so
far really felt that they needed intervening bodies between them.
Although the political echelon could be expected to be more
interested in such bodies than the military, this has never
happened.

While stressing realistic explanations, such as the state's
strategic conditions or the bureaucratic-organizational bargaining
process among decision-makers and national security agencies, the
book is somewhat less strong in the non-realistic, cultural
explanations that it offers. Since the pre-state years, Israeli
strategic culture has given priority to military solutions to
national security challenges. It has cherished rich experience and
experience-based intuition, a practice-oriented approach, and
performance; it has tended to extol resourcefulness and
improvisation; and until 1973 it has been plagued by hubris, as a
result of the "aura of prestige" gained in the 1967 War.

Given the deep-rooted pathologies analyzed in the book, the
negative record of past efforts to reform the national security
decision-making system — which the author describes in the book —
and the aforementioned impact of Israeli strategic culture, one
cannot be too optimistic regarding the chances of the author's
recommendations for further improvement to be implemented in the
foreseeable future.

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